Wie Misses Cut; McLachlin's 62 Ties Record at Reno

By Scott Sonner AP&nbsp|&nbsp

Posted: Fri 4:33 PM, Aug 01, 2008

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Parker McLachlin tied the course record Friday with a 62 to take the second-round lead in the clubhouse at 14-under par at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open while Michelle Wie failed in her eighth attempt to become the first woman since World War II to make the cut on the PGA Tour.

Wie followed Thursday's 1-over-par 73 with an 80 that included a quintuple-bogey 9. She ended play with a 9-over 153 at the par-72Montreux Golf & Country Club.

"I feel my game is a lot better. Obviously the score doesn't show it, but I know what I need to work on," she said. "I gave it my best today and I felt like I did a lot of good things and hopefully that outshines the ones I made mistakes on."

The 18-year-old, who was making her first PGA appearance since January 2007, had two bogeys and one birdie through her first nineholes and was within striking distance of a cut line that was hovering around even par with several golfers still on the 7,472-yard mountain course.

But disaster struck with a double bogey on her 13th hole of the day after she hit her second shot over the green into heavy rough on the 518-yard, par-5 No. 4.

With a difficult downhill lie, her chip came up short, still in the rough. Her next pitch rolled over the green into the rough again before she finally chipped onto the green and two putted.

She suffered the quintuple-bogey 9 when she had to take two penalty strokes on the 464-yard, par-4 eighth. He first tee shot ended up with an unplayable lie in the trees and the second one went left into a waste area with sage brush and pine trees, where she had to take another drop and needed four more shots to reach the green. She finished with a birdie on the 626-yard, par-5 ninth.

Not since Mildred "Babe" Zaharias played at the 1945 Tucson Open has a woman made the cut on the PGA Tour.

Wie said she didn't know if she'd make another run at a PGA event in the future.

"I think if I played a couple (PGA events) in a row, it would be a different story. It's just hard to play one and then one maybe a year later," she said. "I think if I played eight in a row and I missed all eight, that would be a different story."

McLachlin, 29, who has five Top 25 PGA finishes this year and ranks 98th on the tour money list, birdied seven of the last 10 holes and had 11 on the day in a bogey-free round. He missed a four-foot birdie attempt on the par-4 18th that would have broken the record Bill Glasson set in 2005 and Joe Ogilvie matched in 2006.

"Nothing really crazy. It was just pretty solid," McLachlin said about his round that left him at 130 after two days of play.

"Everything went pretty smoothly out there. I hit a lot of fairways, lots of greens and made a bunch of 10-footers. I mean, just kind of the way you like to draw it up," he said.

McLachlin's hot wedge play put him within seven feet of the pin seven times - twice inside two feet and once to four inches - as he opened up a four-stroke lead over Australian Nick Flanagan, who followed an opening round 69 with a 65 on Friday, and John Merrick, who shot consecutive 67s. Bob Estes (69-66) was another shot back at 9-under 135 and several golfers still were on the course late Friday afternoon.

McLachlin's previous best on tour was a 65, though he said he shot a 63 once on the Nationwide Tour and carded a 59 at the course he represents in Hawaii, where he was born and grew up.

"I didn't know what the course record was but I caught myself thinking about 59 at No. 14. I had like about a 10-footer," said McLachlin, who had birdied six of the previous seven holes. "I thought `If I birdie the last five holes I can shoot 59.' And that's just the worst thing to think. So I made par there."

Flanagan, who earned his tour card this year with three wins on last year's Nationwide Tour, said McLachlin is playing well and may be difficult to catch.

"Ten-under out there today is a great score," he said. "I have to play pretty well to catch the leader and get 17 or 18-under par over the weekend."

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